Display lighting circuits



NOV 2, M GUE N E AL DISPLAY LIGHTING CIRCUITS Filed Jan. 12, 1933 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Hazel Gurn and 2m! E l Inn/11 17 5M M 6m Nov 2, 1937. M. GUERXN ET L 2,098,002

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O 1937. M. GUERIN ET AL 2,093,002

DISPLAY LIGHTING CIRCUITS Filed Jan. 12, 1933' 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 WW]? L L WW UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DISPLAY LIGHTING CIRCUITS Marcel Gurin, Paris, and Paul Breton, Bellevue, France Application January 12, 1933, Serial No. 651,344 In Belgium January 15, 1932 4 Claims. (Cl. 177-346) The present invention relates to display light- Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings, there is ing circuits wherein groups of lamps are intershown a series of lighting circuits a a a feedmittently lighted and extinguished. ing three banks of lamps b b, b which may be One of the'objects of the invention is to proof any desired combination of colors such as blue, vide a method and apparatus for intermittently green and red. Each lighting circuit is coupled illuminating series or banks of lamps by means of to a pair of secondary coils d positioned at 180 a transformer wherein the primary and secondto one another, current being induced in the vaary are rotatable relatively to one another. rious secondaries by the rotation of a pair of pri- Another object is to provide a. transformer asmaries c c rotatably mounted inside the sec sembly for a display lighting circuit wherein a 0ndaries and receiving current from an alternator 1O stationary primary and secondary are fitted with b through the intermediary of appropriate a rotating armature operative to vary the inbrushes or rings 1. Core c, supporting the priductive effect of the primary on the secondary. mary windings, is driven by an appropriate A further object is to provide a transformer motor (not shown).

assembly wherein an auxiliary transformer yield- It will be readily seen that, as the primary coils l5 ing a constant voltage is coupled in various ways rotate successively past the various secondary to a main transformer assembly including a priwindings, they will induce intermittent currents mary and secondary of one of the types referred in circuits a a and a Preferably, secondaries to above. 41 are provided with lateral extensions (see Fig. 2)

Still further objects will appear in the course and the periphery of the primaries is correof the detailed description now to be given with 'spondingly spread so that, during rotation, the 0 reference to the accompanying drawings, in primary overlaps a pair of adjacent secondaries. which: The various groups of lamps are thus gradually Fig. 1 represents, diagrammatically, one illuslighted and extinguished and always receive a trative embodiment of the invention; certain predetermined minimum amount of 25 Fig. 2 is a. section taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 3 current.

'(to be described) showing a transformer assem- The transformer shown in Fig. 4 difiers from bly adapted tobe used in circuits of the type illusthose represented in Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive only trated in Fig. 1; in the position of the primary and secondary Fig. 3 is a section taken on line 33 of Fig. 2; coils which are here placed with their longi- 30 Fig. 4 represents, in section, a modified form of tudinal axes in horizontal position instead of in transformer adapted to replace those shown in the vertical, cores g being U-shaped and having Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive; their extremities directed toward one another.

Fig. 5 is a section taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 6 As will be obvious to those skilled in the art, the (to be described) and shows still another form magnetic circuit flowing through the opposed of transformer; U-shaped cores will vary through maxima and Fig. 6 is an elevation, partially in section, of minimasubstantially in the same way as for the the transformer-represented in Fig. 5 the sectransformers already described. tion being taken on line 6--6 oi the latter; In the transformer represent-ed in Figs. 5 and 6,

0 Fig. 7 is a section taken on line '|'I of Fig. 9 the primary is composed of a central winding c to be described and showing a form of transmounted on a rotatable core 0 provided with former wherein the primary and secondary are pairs of lateral, radial arms 0 while the secondstationary, variations in flux being produced by a ary windings e are supported on a series of horirotating armature; zontal cores (1. As will at once be evident from Fig. 8 is a section taken on line 88 of Fig. '7; an inspection of Fig. 5, rotation of the primary 45 Fig. 9 is a section taken on line 9-9 of Fig. 7; coil will cause arm 0 to successively sweep past Fig. 10 illustrates, diagrammatically, different the ends of cores d and so vary the magnetic forms of segments mounted on the distributor field by increasing and decreasing the air gap.

represented in Fig. 7; In the form of transformer shown in Figs. '7 Fig. 11 shows a special type of distributor to 9, the primary and secondary coils are main- 5 control; tained. stationary and the effect of the former on Figs. 12 to 15 inclusive. are wiring diagrams the latter is varied by means of a rotating arshowin'g various methods of coupling an auxiliary mature interposed therebetween and acting to transformer to any of the transformers shown vary the section of the air gap. The primary 66 in the preceding figures. winding I is placed centrally with relation to driven by a shaft 22 carrying a pinion 2t and is coupled to a distributing drum by means of a second pinion in mesh with element 23. The

distributor 2!! includes a plurality of rings ll,

d, 9, itbflfl insulated from one another and delivering current to a series of brushes i2, it, it, it, it connected to lighting circuits of the type a a a shown in Fig. 1. By varying the ratio between the teeth of the pixels-no. the ratio between the number of turns of element 6 and the number of successive illuminations and extinctions of the various lamp circuits may be varied at will. I

Fig. 10 illustrates how this latter ratio may be given a predetermined value and how the time during which the various lamp groups remain in action may be further modified. The structures numbered i, 2, d, t, 5 represent a transformer assembly either of the. type shown in Fig. 1 or Fig. '7. Rings i and t of the distributor are conducting over their whole periphery and receive current from two secondary coils via brushes N and it. Elements t, it and it, on the contrary. include each two conducting sectors (ta and 9b for ring 9, Mia and lb for ring M], Ma. and Nb for ring M) and two insulating sectors (to for ring 9,- iflc for ring ill, and lie for ring M. The two conducting sectors of each of the rings are connected respectively to rings i and 8. Formstance, sector 9a is connected through its hub 91! .to ring R, and sector 9b through its hub 98 to ing part of the lighting circuit containing banks of ,lamps, A, B, C through theintermediary of brushes M, i5 and I6. By properly orienting the conducting portions of rings 9, ill and il, the time during which each bank of lamps is illuminated may be varied at will. If the ratio between the speed of rotation of pole or armature 6 and that of distributing cylinder 2| be chosen as 1 to 3, the latter cylinder will rotate once for three rotations of pole 6. Pole 6 wfll, therefore, have caused six illuminations and six extinctions to take place during this time while distributor 2! will have illuminated each bank of lamps twice. If the number of lighting circuits exceeds three, it'is only necessary to provide as many brushes of the type of M, Iiand l6 as there-are circuits, the ratio between the speed of rotation of elements 6 and 2| being chosen as 1 to n, where n represents the number of V lighting circuits.

Fig. 11 shows a. distributor control which may be used to replace the one shown in Figure 7 and consists of a ratchet wheel l'l having twice as many teeth as there are circuits to be supplied. A fingeror arm I8 driven from shaft 22 in Figure 7 rotates wheel Ii through the anrotation of pole piece 6, thus causing, in the sameway as for the assembly inFigure 7, current to flow from one of the secondary circuits into a corresponding bank of lamps. A pair of parallel springs i9 and 20 embracing a hexagonal nut or cam il serves to arrest the distributor after each angular displacement.

Referring now to Figures 12 to 15 inclusive there is shown a series of circuits wherein transfors of the type shown in Figures 1 and 7. 5 co-act with an auxiliary transformer functioning to add a constant voltage of invariable phase vectorially to the electromotive forces arising in secondaries e (or 2--d and it-t).

With this arrangement, even when no current 10 is fed to a bank of lamps by the main transformer,

a small amount of current still flows therethrough, owing to the constant voltage fed by the auxiliary transformer. This is done to avoid sparking, as might occur if the lamps were fully 15. switched off after every illumination.

In the assembly shown in'Figure 12, the auxiliary transformer consists of a primary h mounted in the same circuit as rotating primary winding 0 and inducing current in a series of sec- 20 ondaries i 2 i connected in series withT-each of the lamp circuits. The amount of current taken from these latter secondaries may be varied by means of appropriate sliding contacts impedances or equivalent devices.

In Figure 13, the secondary windings e are connected in star relation with a single secondary i of the fixed transformer mounted in parallel across the neutral points of 'theessembly and current is induced therein by primary h con- 30 tary shaft 7' is provided with contacts n and m connected with respective rings also mounted on. i said shaft and coop ating with brushes con- 40 nected with wires k nd k respectively. The third rin'g cooperates with a. brush connected to one of the terminals of the source of current, said last mentioned ring being further connected with one end of the primary winding 1. '45

.As it results from the connections shown by the drawings, the portion of winding j between contacts h and h constitutes an auto-transformer which supplies the desired constant voltage to the secondary circuitsu a and a v The assembly shown in Figure 14 may be further simplified by using the counter-electromotive force derived from primary 1 as a fl'xed source of electromotive force, the latter being connected in. series as shown in 15 with the neutral 55 points of the rotating transformer, while the corresponding neutral points of the lighting circuit are. connected to the other poles of the current source. I

-The invention is not to be taken as limited to the structures shown in any particular figure. Thus, the'transformer shown in Figures 1, 4, 5 and 7 may be used interchangeably with any of the circuits represented in Figures 1, 10 or 6 to 9. Similarly, distributor I I may be used interchangeably with the one shown in Figure 5. Finally.

any one of the circuits represented in Figures 12 r to 15 may replace one another in whole or in part.

In practice, the effect of a rotating transformer 70 may be obtained by utilizing a polyphase motor wherein the stator and rotor have afdiflerent number or phases, the primary and secondary windings being composed of '(1) a. monophase stator coacting with a triphase rotor or (2) a 7g triphase stator coacting with a mon'ophase rotor.

s,oes,oos 3 creased, successively, and an auxiliary trans-' former system having a primary element connected to the poles of said source and at least one secondary part connected with the circuit of one or said secondary windings, for adding a constant electromotive iorce to the varying electromotive force in said circuit.

2. A device of the type described, which comprises, in combination, a plurality of electric circuits, electric lamps in said circuits respectively connected together in star relation, a plurality oi secondary windings connected to said circuits respectively and interconnected together in star relation, a primary winding adapted to induce current in said secondary windings, notary means for inductively coupling said primary winding with said secondary windings. successively, whereby the luminous intensities oi the respective lamps of said circuits are gradually increased and then decreased, successively. and an auxiliary transformer system having its primary connected in parallel with said primary winding and its secondary connected in shunt across the neutral points said secondary windings and their lamp circuits, so as to add a fixed electromotive iorce to the varying electroinotive iorce' produced in said circuits by the action of said primary winding on said secondary windings.

3. A device of the'type described which come prises, in combination, a plurality 0! electric circuits,electricianipsinsaidcircuitsrespectively connectedtogetherinstarrelatimaplin-ality oisecondarywindingsincludedinssidelectric circuits rupectively and interconnected together in star arrangement, a primary winding adapted to induce current in said secondary windings. rotary means for inductively coupling said primary winding with said secondary windings, successively, whereby the luminous intensities of the respective lamps of said circuits are gradually increased and then decreased, successively, and

' means for connecting an intermediate portion of said primary winding in shunt across the neutral .pointsoi'thestarrelatedsecondsrywindingsand theirlampcircuits, sothat saidprimarywinding may work as an auto-transformer adapted to add a fixed electromotive force to the varying elecmotive force produced in said circuits by the direct inductive action of said primary winding on said secondary windings.

4. A device oi the type described which comprises, in combination, a plurality 01' electric circuits, electric lamps in said circuits, respectively connected together in star arrangement, a plurality of secondary windings included in said electric circuits rapectively and interconnected together in star relation, a primary winding adapted to induce current in said secondary windings. rotary means for inductively coupling said primary winding with said secondary windings, succusively, whereby the luminous intensities of the respective lamps 01 said circuits are gradually increased and then decreased, successively, and meansiorconnectingsaidprimarycoiltoits sourceoiprimarycurrentacrosstheneutral points of said secondary windings and their respectivelamp circuiiasoastomakeuseotthe counter-electromotive iorce derived from said primarywindingasoiaconstantelectrmnotive force added to the varying electromotive forces directlyproducedby theinductive actionoi said primarywindingonsaidsecondarywindings. I

usncn. mm; PAUL Bill-ION.- 

